Romney Pays Visit to Failing FL Printer

JACKSONVILLE, FL—Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took his “Obama Isn’t Working” theme to a commercial printing company here that is closing after 99 years in business due to tough economic conditions.

Romney made the visit to Paramount Performance Marketing Thursday in advance of Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate, the last one held prior to Florida’s primary. He was introduced at the rally by Paramount CEO Jon Cummins, who recently announced the company’s closure.

“This is not a happy day at this plant, of course, but it’s an indication of what’s gone wrong with this administration,” Romney told supporters, according to Channel 4. “Jon asked how long this is going on, and I said this is going to go on until January of 2013, when we take over.”

Cummins said that technology shifts and international sourcing, combined with increasing health care costs on an annual basis and government regulations, have impacted business tremendously.

“Everybody’s created problems for the business,” Cummins told Channel 4.

Of course it is the Obama administration’s fault the printing industry is having it’s woes. Seriously?

Ijay

And how is this Obama’s fault? Much of this crap has been going on under a Republican majority watch. Can’t fix the impact of the internet and technology, that will move forward regardless. As well as health care costs, that should be addressed at the insurance company levels. Anyway the printing industry is consolidating with those who aren’t keeping up with the changing world of printing going out of business. "Everybody’s created problems for the business"??? take responsibility and look inside of the 99 year business- it’s not 1913

Surviving Small Printer

If Romney takes over in January 2013, there will be thousands more printers closing their doors by 2017. The current administration is doing an excellent job of turning our Republican-damaged economy around.

larry

I guess if we blame President Obama for everything else, why not the collapse of the printing industry! We all know it’s his fault that we havn’t adapted to change. After all, he ran on "Hope and Change" it must be his fault. Romney, will say anything for your vote. I’ll bet he’ll bring new life to the printing industry. Hold your breath on that.

Illinois Printer

That’s funny, my printing company is thriving under this Obama Administration!!

the real mm

government regulation — not so much (unless you complain that you can’t pollute or leave oily rags around).

not mentioned — taxes. if you aren’t making any money your taxes are pretty low.

international sourcing? yes a big problem but i bet none of your presses are made in the U.S.

technology shifts? yes. very expensive to keep up with the latest equipment, but so much of what once was printed is going on the web. you can’t keep doing what you did 99 years ago.

the biggest help to your business would be a healthcare system like the rest of the developed world uses. we’re spending four times as much and not getting better results. and no, you don’t wait any longer in canada or france for emergency care than you do here.

Noel Ward

So how did Romneyites cherry-pick this printer? I can think of lots of printers who have failed, but none of the failures have been due to ANY administration. They mostly fail because the owners were poor business people who ignored the changes in technology that have been taking place for the past 15 or so years, and who continuing to do business like it was 1965.

Almost every print shop in which I shoot video has a mix of offset and digital presses, all busy, and sales forces that knows how to sell it all. I’ve been in two shops in the past 6 months that have offset, digital and letter presses, all in operation. The best ones also do cross-media… and make plenty of money.

DGR

Demand for printed product is diminished. Simply look no farther than the volume of mail that goes through the US Postal Service. Amazon sells more electronic books than hard copies. Annual Reports printed on paper must now be requested. Consumers now have more choices and determine how they want to receive content. Content that was mostly ink-on-paper is now also distributed through [electronic] channels other than print. The printing industry is fraught with business issues that include and is not limited to rapidly changing technology, over-reaching and intrusive government regulations, price/margin pressure and more. Clients demand ‘even better’ and faster service levels. The printing industry by-and-large is all about custom manufacturing each job, each time. Our businesses are both capital and labor intensive, as well using materials that represent a substantial portion of the cost. The lack of a backlog of work, particularly in a job shop environment, exacerbates the level of uncertainty. Best thing the government can do is get out of the way; relax over-reaching and intrusive regulation, reduce or eliminate the corporate tax. Print providers must rethink their businesses, have a clear focus on their market, products and services. Akin to Wayne Gretzky’s goal shooting prowess, go where the puck will be. Not to where it is.

Change

A constant changing environment with no stability in the marketplace because we don’t know what the rules will be next year, help companies to make investments for the long term. I didn’t realize that printers liked paying high taxes and out of control spending so much. No Obama did not close this printer, but he didn’t help with his bailout either.
We need our fiscal house in order, and the current administration shows no restraint in spending. We need someone willing to get us back on track and quit spending.

old printer

You are probably a bunch of idiots who have never run a business. Of course some are doing good but a lot more have gone out. Its not just this president ( even though he hasn’t done anything to help) It’s most of the idiots in Washington who have never had a real job and are making decisions that affect us all.That includes this president.
You forget about the companies that support the printers.How many of them do you think have gone broke?

The Print Wiz

My guess is that they did not respond to technology shifts in a timely manner. All the print shops that are still thriving in my area went digital years ago. You can curse new technology or you can embrace it.

Every other print shop also saw increased health care costs and faced the same regulations, and we all didn’t shut our doors. Time to look in the mirror instead of blaming Obama.

Texas printer

The private sector is all about confidence and planning. This president has done nothing to give us confidence and that is the main reason why our private sector customers are holding back. Obama has pumped trillions of dollars in the economy and you will see pockets of success (probably that Illinois printer has a connection with the regime). But with this reckless spending, we will ALL be poor in the future. We already have affordable healthcare, 49% of the workers do not pay taxes and we got more people on welfare than ever before. How’s that Hope and Change working for you???